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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTfATION W02-4155 V

NEWS WASHINGTON,D.C.20546 WO 3925

FOR RELEASE: SUNxY

February 25, 1968

RpLEASE NO: 68-36

PP R OJ~cEC T:
PROJ T Wp B;
SOLAR EXPLORER
P (To be launched no
ntrlier than Feb. 29)

E. contents
: GENERAL RELEASE-------------------------------- 1-3
'B3ACKGROUND----------------- --------- ---- --- -----------
SOLAR FLARES IMPORTANT ------------------------------------ 4
) VALUE OF SPAoE RESEARCH-----------------------------------5
HOW SATELLITES HELP RESEARCH----------------------------5

3 SEVERAL TECHNIQUES TRIED----------------------------------6

SOUNDING ROCKETS USEFUL------------------------------------6
SR-I RESULTS SIGNIFICANT---------------------------------.
VARIATIONS DISCOLSED--------------------------------------
SPACECRAFT DESCRIPTION-------------------------------------9
SOLAR RADIATION MEASUREMENTS------------------------------10-11
SCOUT LAUNCH VEHICLE-------------------------------------l
NRL/NASA SOLAR E&PLORER B PROJECT TEAM--------------------12

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NEWSNATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION T U'No 2-4155 So4

FOR, RELEASE: SUINDAY -i

February 25, 1968 Ws.

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RELEASE No: 68-36,

SOLAR X-RAY SATELLITE

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration

and the United States Naval Research Laboratory will
launch no earlier than Feb. 29, a satellite to measure
and monitor solar X-ray and selected ultraviolet emissions.

NRL-NASA Solar Explorer B is scheduled for launch

from NASA's Wallops Station, Wallops Island, Va., aboard
a four-stage Scout rocket. This is the latest in a series

of NRL solar radiation (SOLRAD) satellites for monitoring

solar X-radiation throughout the solar cycle.

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A key feature of the satellite, to be designated

Explorer XXXVTI when orbited, is a digital data storage

system which takes information from three of the solar rad-

lation detectors over a 14-hour period by readout on ground

c;ommands Other solar radiation data are transmitted in

real-time over a standard analog telemetry system.

The international scientific community has been

invited to acquire real-time data directly from the
satellite.

The Sun is now in the ascending part of its activity

cycle with maximum solar activity expected in late 1969.

Solar Explorer B, by measuring and monitoring solar X-ray
emissions and providing immediate data to interested
scienitists, is expected to improve forecasts of ionospheric
conditions which affect short-wave radio communications.
This information will be used in a warning system for major
solar flares which may be hazardous to manned space activities.

The satellite is similar to Explorer XX., launched

Nov. 19, 1965, by Navy and NASA. It is still operating on an

orbit of 600 by 410 miles, (see NASA Release 65v352.)

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The 198-pound spacecraft is 12-sided, 27 inches high

and 30 inches across. A central band contains X-rayt ~
photometers, Geiger tubes, solar aspect systems and
attitude control and spin nozzles. Electric power is
supplied by 24 solar cell panels on the satellite's
vertical surface and a rechargeable battery pack. w

The spin-stabilized satellite will be placed in a

525-mile circular orbit inclined 60 degrees to the Equator.

Satellite commands and acquisition of both stored

and real-time scientific data will be done at the NRL
Tracking and Command Station, Blossom Point, Md.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.,

will track the satellite and support NRL in acquisition
of telemetered data.

The Scout launch vehicle is managed by NASA's Langley

Research Center, Hampton, Va. X

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END OF GENERAL RELEA&?:3; BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOLLOWS 7-

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BACKGROUND

The Earth is a body immersed in the atmosphere of

a star, the Sun. Radiation from the Sun controls the
environment of the Earth, of other solar system planets,
and of interplanetary space. Because most emissions of
radiation from the Sun are variable, the environment of
the Earth is variable.

There is a cyclic pattern of solar activity, with

maximum and minilmim necurring about every 11 years, and
a similar cyclic variation is evident in the properties
of the Earth's atmosphere.

The present period is one of ascending solar activity.

The next period of maximum activity is expected to be in
late 1968 or in 1969. -
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SOLAR FLARES IMPORTANT

The solar F.lare appears to be the most important K

part of variable solar activity insofar as variable solar
effects upon the environment of the Earth are concerned.
In visible light, a flare is a sudden bright'ening of a
part of the solar surface occurring in a few minutes and
then slowly decaying over a period of hours.
X-rays and intensified ultraviolet light emitted I
during the life of a flare increase the ionization in
the Earth's lower ionosphere and thus disrupt short-wave
jI radio communications.
The largest flares also emit great numbers of energetic
protons which increase the radiation 'levels in inter-
planetary space and in the space over the Earth's poles.
Greater knowledge of the radiations emitted by the Sun
is required to understand these interactions between solar
events and the Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere. |
Li;.
The Sun is an astrophysical object of prime interest
to man. It is the only star whose surface characteristics e
we can resolve and study. Knowledge gained by studying the
Sun will help us understand and interpret the data from <n.>,
other stars.

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VALUE OF SPACE RESEARCH

The techniques of space research permit scientists to
expand solar studies in two ways: They can increase the
resolving power of their telescopes through the elimination
of atmospheric distortion, and they can observe over a very
much larger part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The Sun emits electromagnetic radiation covering the
spectrum from radio waves through the visible and ultraviolet
to X-rays and gamma rays.
Only a fraction of the radiation is in the visible part
of the spectrum that a human eye can see. Parts of the
radio portion of the spectrum can be observed on the ground.
The rest of the solar radiation is absorbed in the
Earth's atmosphere and can be observed only with instruments
above the atmosphere.
Some of the absorbed portions of the spectrum are doubly
important. They are the portions which vary with solar
activity. To understand the mechanism of a solar flare, [
studies of the ultraviolet ant. X-rays emitted during a flare
(both of which are absorbed in the atmosphere) must be made.
Since the radiation is absorbed in the upper atmosphere, these
portions of the solar radiation conzrol iohe nature of the
upper atmosphere.
HOW SATELLITES HELP RESEARCH

Satell'tes contribute to studies of solar phenomena in

three major ways. They make possible the study of the ultra-
violet, X-ray and gamma ray radiation which is absorbed in
the atmosphere; they permit continuous monitoring of this
radiation during solar cycles of activity; and they provide
higher resolution than ground equipment through the elimination
of atmospheric scattering.
The primary reason for the solar studies is to expand human
knowledge of space phenomena. While this is an exciting and
important reason for the work, there are also practical benefits
l, to be gained.

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Knowledge of solar radiation and its effects on the
terrestrial environment, together with continuous monitoring
of the entire sptectrum of solar radiation, should result in
significant advances in the understanding of, and ultimate.
control over weather.
If significant advance signs of solar activity can be
found and used to predict solar flares, this discovery will
be a major contribution to comiunications, meteorology and
manned space flights.
SEVERAL TECHNIQUES TRIED

In recent years, portions of the solar spectrum of

radiations have been observed by ground-based monitors,
balloon-borne instruments, high-flying aircraft, sounding
rocket tlights, deep space probes, and satellites. Scientists
from industry, universities and several Government agencies
have engaged In these efforts to unlock the Sun's secrets.
In 1949 the Naval Research Laboratory began a program.
of observation of iolar ultravirlet and X-ray emissions in
which the V-2 and, later, Aerobee and other sounding rockets
were used to lift sensitive initruments (spectrographs and
photometers) above the absorbing layers of the atmosphere.
In 1956, NRL began trying balloon-launched rockets,
ROCKOONS, in an attempt to test, by direct measurement, the
theory that solar X-rays were responsible for sudden ionospheric
disturbances (SIDs) during-solar flares.
A rocket tired during a solar flare July 20, 1956 indicated
a surprisingly high intensity of X-rays between altitudes of
75 and 100 kilometers '47 to 62 statute miles). This X-ray
flux was the first ever measured at such short wavelengths
and at such a low altitude in the ionosphere.
SOUNDIM ROCKETS USEFUL
Subsequent ground-launched sounding rockets gathered
considerable new data on X-ray emissions during 1957 through .
1959. Rocket measurements were made during three solar
flares each of which was accompahied by a large sudden |
ionosphere disturbance.
Sounding rocket experience by NRL, NASA and others pro-
vided the brief glimpses of the Sun's spectLum necessary to
guide development of satellite instrumentation.

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flares,
In the study of such spasmodic events as solar They
however, the sounding rockets have three handicaps: phases
cannot be launched quickly enough to see the early
of flare; they cannot stay above the Earth's atmosphereand
long enough to measure time variations of solar X-ray
ultraviolet emissions; and it is difficult to keep
yaw of the
instruments pointed at the Sun due to roll and
rockets. 1
Therefore, scientists turned to satellites capable of
'

providing a stable platform for continuous solar monitoring.

In June 1960, the SR-1, desained and built by NEL,
satellite.
became the first successful solar X-ray monitoringwhen SR-1
Because X-ray monitoring could be conducted only
passed over a telemetry station, the experiment depended
on NASA for tracking and data acquisition.
SR-I RESULTS SIGNIFICANT

Despite its modest capabilitiqs, 577 telemetry records

1;
1960.
were obtained from SR-I between June 22 and Nov. 1,
One hundred of these showed measurable X-ray fluxes.,
the
The results were significant. SR-I confirmed }
hypothesis that solar X-rays cause sudden disturbances in
the ionosphere during flares and determined the intensity
necessary to trigger the changes.
It also established that active prominence regions,
bright surges on the edge of the Sun, and ceftainassolar-
major
edge (limb) flares have the same characteristics Sun as
disk flares. The disk is the centra portion of the
viewed from Earth.
a
Data from SR-I showed that solar X-ray fluxes provide
very sensitive measure of solar activitj and can change
significantly within one minute. It was found that long-
duration X-ray events of moderate intensity can accompany 4
rising prominences on the solar limb. Prominences are streams
of cool gas that surge into the hot corona.
The second satellite in the SR series failed to achieve
orbit and the third, SR-Ill, launched in June 1961, went into
a tumbling mode 'that made data reduction difficult. Never-
theless, some of the data from SR-I11 have been reduced and
found useful. [
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VARIATIONS DISCLOSED

The experiments Of SR-I and ER-III made it evident that

X-ray emission spectra vary greatly from one flare to another,
and vary with time during a single flare event.
A highly successful satellite of the SR series was launched
in January 1964 and was designated 1964-01D. During periods of
good alignment relative to the Sun, the satellite provided 200
minutes-per-day of direct solar observations with measurements
of solar X-ray emissions in the spectral bands of 1-8, 8-12 and
44-60 angstroms The angstrom (A) is a measure Of wavelength
1 A equals 10-1 meter, or about four one-billionths of an inch.
The 44-60 A wavelength band proved especially sensitive
to even the smallest solar event and its observed flux has been
correlated with plage phenomena. Plages are bright, hot areas
that appear on the Sun's photosphere. The photosphere is the
visible disk of the Sun.
Another highly successful satellite of the SR series was
launched in November 1965 and was designated Explorer XXX. It
marked the first time that an attempt was made to use a data
storage system in the series. Although the system malfunctioned
after one month, the satellite continued to provide useful
information in real time until November 1967.
Explorer XXX provided evidence that an increase in back-
ground solar X-ray emission can be interpreted as a precursor
of flare activity and the subsequent disruption of radio
communications. It also gave the best definition of the sizes
of X-ray active regions thus far obtained. They were derived
from observations as the satellite passed through the May 1966
eclipse shadow over Italy.
Since NASA was established in October 1958, there has been
a close working relationship between NRL and NASA personnel in
numerous scientific projects of mutual interest. Vanguard II,
the first satellite launched by NASA (February 1959), was
developed by an NRL team that was transferred to NASA.
Much of the NASA-NRL cooperation and interagency support
has been in work related to solar physics. In the area of
scientific exploration, an understanding of the universe, with
particular emphasis on the solar system, remains the all-
encompassing NASA objective. L
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SPACECRAFT DESCRIPTION

The spacecraft is a 12 sided cylinder, 30" in diameter

across the corners and approximately 27" high. A central band
contains X-ray photometers, Geiger tubes, photomultipliers,
solar aspect system, and attitude control and spin nozzles.

Twenty-four solar cell panels cover the vertical surfaces.

Electric power converted from solar energy by the cells is
available to charge the nickel-cadmium batteries and to operate K'
all spacecraft electrical systems. The symmetrical arrangement
of tho 7 X 10-inch panels assures adequate power.
The silicon solar cells will supply 27 watts of power.,
The portion of the shell not covered with solar cells is highly
polished and has a thermal control coating applied. This will
keep the internal temperature between 10 and 40 degrees
Centigrade.
Low-thrust vapor jets are located adjacent to the center
band to maintain spin rate and control of the spin axis. The
spacecraft is planned to be spin stabilized at about one
revolution per second. Two Sun sensors located 180 degrees
apart generate properly timed jet pulses to precess the spin
axis as necessary.
Output of five photometers can be switched to the low-
power Digital Data Storage System (DDSS). The digitized data
can be read out over a special transmitter by command when the
satellite passes near the NRL ground facility.
Radio equipment on the satellite includes two analog
transmitters for continuous operation, a digital transmitter
to operate on command only, two four-element antenna systems,
and two command receivers connected to a decoder system for l
placing the spacecraft and its experiments in desired operating
modes.
One telemetry system consists of six subcarrier oscillators.
The second system has four. Their mixed output modulates a
transmitter which will send both housekeeping and X-ray data. 4

A magnetic core memory system will collect data from three

X-ray band detectors over a 14-hour period and then, an command,
transmit the digitized data to the NRL ground station. After
that the system is reset to collect data for another 14-hour
period.

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SOLAR RADIATION MEASURBMENTS

All radiant energy, i.ncluding that from the Sun, is, of

emitted in many diverse forms and over a tremendous range
frequencies, or wavelengths. All these forms of radiant
energy are electromagnetic in nature, obey the same basic laws
186,300
and travel through space at the speed of light (about and
miles-per -second). They differ in wavelength, origin the
ways in which they manifest themselves.
The entire array of electromagnetic radiations is called
the electromagnetic spectrum.
Wavelengths corresponding to radio frequencies are
usually expressed in meters; infrared in centimeters or microns;
visible light, ultraviolet X-rays and gamma rays in angstroms.
X-ray and gamma photons are often described by specifying their
energy in electron-volts.
Instrumentation on the NRL/NASA Solar Explorer B will make
measurements in the X-ray and ultraviolet regions of the elec-
tromagnetic spectrum.
Radiation measurerm's will be obtained by photometers,
photomultipliers and Geiger tubes. Ultraviolet photometers
will measure the region from 1080 to 1350 A.
The satellite measurements will be as follows:
WAVELENGTH TYPE OF
(in angstroms) EMISSION DETECTOR TYPE

0.1 - 0.5 X-ray Scintillation counter

0.5 - 3 X-ray X-ray photometer & X-ray
Geiger-Mueller tube
1 - 8 X-ray X-ray GM tube and X-ray
photometer
1- 20 X-ray X-ray photometer
8 - 16 X-ray X-ray photometer
44 - .60 X-ray X-ray photometer
1080 - 1350 Ultra violet Ultra violet photometer
1225 - 1350 Ultra violet Ultra violet photometer

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The measurements are made in different but overlapping

X-ray bands so that comparison of the different photometer
outputs can be employed to construct a model of the solar of
X-ray spectrum and to provide an instantaneous indication
spectral changes with solar activity. 7

Satellite-obtained data on the daily average X-ray flux

will be provided to the Institute for Telecommunications
Sciences and Aeronomy, Boulder, Colo., for rapid publication.

SCOUT LAUNCH VEHICLE

Scout is a four-stage solid propellant rocket capable of
carrying payloads of varying sizes on orbital, space probe or
reentry missions. It is 72 feet long and weighs about 20 tons
at lift-off.

Scout was developed and is managed by NASA's Langley

Research Center, Hampton, Va. Prime contractor is Ling-Temco-
Vought, Inc., Dallas, Texas.
Its four motors are interlocked with transition sections
which contain guidance, control, ignition, instrumentation
systems, separation mechanisms, and the spin motors required
to stabilize the fourth stage. Guidance is provided by a
strapped-down gyro system and control is achieved by a com-
bination of aerodynamic surfaces, jet vanes and hydrogen
peroxide jets.
Scout is capable of placing a 310-pound payload into a
300 nautical mile orbit or of carrying a 100-pound scientific
package 18,000 miles from Earth.
Scout stages include the following motors:
First stage: Algol llB
- 100,944 pounds thrust, burning 80 seconds.
4
Second stage: Castor 1
- 60,764 pounds thrust, burning 39.3 seconds.

Third stage: Antares (X-259))

- 20)942 pounds thrust, burning 34.9 seconds.

Fourth stage: F4AS'

- 5,746 pounds thrust, burning 31.5 seconds.

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NRL/NASA SOLAR EXPLORER B PROJECT TEAM

For the National Aeronautics and Space Administration:
J. Holtz (Headquarters) Program Manager
R. Miller Headquarters) Program Engineer
H. Glaser (Headquarters Program Scientist
J. Duke (Wallops) Project Coordinator
P. Goozh (Headquarters) Scout Program Manager
R. Schmitz (Langley) Scout Project Office
R. Mitchell (Goddard) Tracking and Data Acquisition

For the Naval Research Laboratory:

R. W. Kreplin, Project Scientist
P. G. Wilhelm, Project Manager
H. Friedman, Scientific Investigator
T. A. Chubb, Scientific Investigator

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